Business – Page 99

Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Virtual teams can create human connections despite distance

February 5, 2014

A Unify survey of knowledge workers recently found that 79% of the respondents reported working always or frequently in virtual teams, but only 44% found virtual communication as productive as face-to-face communication. The vast majority connected via email, phone, or conference calls even though 72% said video would make teamwork easier. Only 34% of people use video to collaborate with coworkers. And 43% feel confused and overwhelmed by the mishmash of collaboration technology at their disposal.

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Analysis, Business, Economy, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The Internet is the greatest facilitator of inequality in history

February 4, 2014

The Internet affects the economy differently than the new businesses of the past did.

John Doerr, a venture capitalist, predicted in the 1990’s that the Internet would lead to the “the largest legal creation of wealth in the history of the planet.” The Internet has created a tremendous amount of personal wealth. Just look at the rash of Internet billionaires and millionaires, the investors both small and large that have made fortunes investing in Internet stocks, and the list of multibillion-dollar Internet companies—Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Amazon. Add to the list the recent Twitter stock offering, which created a reported 1,600 millionaires.

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Money Talk

Bitcoin and other money fictions

February 4, 2014

Bitcoin

What should we be thinking about a currency like Bitcoin? The first thing we should remember is that money is a sort of collective fiction. What money we choose to trust says much about how we see the world.

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Analysis, Business, Great Videos, Robots, Science & Technology News

How human empathy will shape the design of artificial intelligence

February 3, 2014

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odQw5BDnCRs[/youtube]

Harvey Milk understood the power of human empathy when he famously advised his “gay brothers and sisters” to come out, but “only to the people you know, and who know you.” It is hard to hate people you know and who know you.

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Analysis, Business, Education, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Is this the end of the golden age for higher education?

February 3, 2014

One way to improve life for the new student majority is to raise the quality of the education without raising the price.

Interest in using the internet to slash the price of higher education is being driven in part by hope for new methods of teaching, but also by frustration with the existing system. The biggest threat those of us working in colleges and universities face isn’t video lectures or online tests. It’s the fact that we live in institutions perfectly adapted to an environment that no longer exists.

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Analysis, Business, Economy, Historical Perspectives, Latest Trend, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

The Disruptive Nature of the Sharing Economy: Finding the Next Great Opportunities

February 3, 2014

Futurist Thomas Frey: Many of us suffer from a sinister and often contagious disorder, something I call just-in-case disease.

We own toolboxes full of tools, just in case we need to fix something. We have kitchens full of appliances just in case we want to prepare a meal. We have cars in our garages just in case we need to go somewhere. We even have closets full of clothes we know we’ll never wear just in case we get desperate.

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Analysis, Business, Internet, Latest Trend, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

There are now 83 (and counting) cryptocurrencies in the world

February 1, 2014

In the cryptocurrency world, Bitcoin (and Litecoin) garner the most attention, but there are now 83 (and counting) virtual currencies to store your wealth in. Bitcoin’s market cap is over $10 billionis and is by far the highest but we wonder whether the miasma of mimiccers – from Unobtainium to the ironically-named StableCoin and from ‘Philospher Stones’ to HoboNickels – serves to reduce the confidence in Bitcoin as a new method payments, or bolsters it as the clear market winner.

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App, Business, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

iPhones to replace room keys at select Starwood hotels

January 31, 2014

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4d3NmO4-_k[/youtube]

The international hospitality chain, Starwood, has two boutique hotels that will soon let travelers bypass the check-in counter and unlock their room by using digital keys sent to a special application available for Apple’s iPhone.

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Top 5 business tech trends to watch in 2014

January 31, 2014

There are several critical technology trends that are likely to affect your business in the year to come, from connected devices to new security concerns to a more demanding and discriminating user base.

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Alternative Transportation, Business, Science & Technology News

Tesla connects supercharger network from coast to coast

January 31, 2014

Tesla’s coast-to-coast network of electric vehicle recharging stations.

A cross-country road trip in a Tesla is now a reality. According to CEO Elon Musk, the electric car maker has expanded its network of Superchargers from coast to coast.

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Analysis, Business, Energy, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Top 5 facts about the solar jobs market

January 30, 2014

In the United States a solar system is installed every four minutes. The solar industry is adding a lot of new jobs in the process. There are 142,698 jobs throughout the industry, according to the Solar Foundation. That’s a 20 percent increase since 2012 — a jump driven both by growth in installations and new categories for academic and research jobs.

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Business, Great New Product, Science & Technology News

MarkForged is world’s first carbon fiber 3D printer

January 30, 2014

MarkForged 3D printer

Aeromotions builds computer-controlled racecar wings. The use carbon fiber to make those wings both strong and lightweight. Carbon fiber is the material of choice for many advanced motorsports parts. The problem is that making custom racecar parts out of carbon fiber is daunting. The only real method available is the expensive and difficult process of laying up carbon fiber pieces by hand.

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